Not quite a sports car, not quite a custom car, the one-off cars we’ve come to call sport customs blended a little bit of both and have always been considered in a class of their own. At this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a group of significant sport customs will take the field in a literal class of their own.

Most stories about custom cars start in the 1950s and stories about American sports cars start with the introduction of the 1948 Jaguar XK120 and the MG in the post-war era and the influence they had. Those are great mile markers, but what we’re finding out is the best stories about American sports and custom cars are the ones that led up these events – the history and heritage of America’s sport custom cars.

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, custom cars were truly one-of-a-kind cars that were all, or nearly all, built by coachbuilders of the day. These included cars built by Frank Kurtis, Bohman and Son (of Bohman and Schwartz fame), Derham, Diedt & Lesovsky, and others. One-off uniquely designed custom cars were also built by individuals such as Jay Everett (Astra).

What we would now call customs – which involved taking a stock car or stock component parts and modifying them extensively to get a new look and/or design – were then referred to as “restyled cars.” Some of these were modified so extensively that it might have been easier to build the same car from scratch! Examples of restyled cars included ones built by Gerry Huth (Custom Cadillac), Robert Monroe & Alexis Dowydoff (Rogue), and Lloyd Templeton (Saturn). Of course the coachbuilding shops restyled many cars too, so some of their work belongs in this category, as well.

After the 1940s, sports car design separated from custom car design and each became a distinct classification of car. Sport customs continued being built through the 1950s, and most of these were designed as large, “sporty,” cars – an “American boulevard cruiser” type of design. That’s what makes this class of cars so interesting – and their history compelling. Like my favorite Forgotten Fiberglass cars of the 1950s, Sport Custom Cars are always handcrafted, taking hundreds – if not thousands – of hours to complete.

Most of the cars that we’ll see in this class at Pebble took more than 2,000 hours to build back in the day. That’s 50 weeks of 40 hours a week work – and two weeks off for good behavior – one full working year. In modern terms, at 50 bucks an hour, you’ll arrive at $100,000 in labor before accounting for the first bolt. The Sport Custom cars that will be on display at Pebble Beach took quite a bit more than 2,000 hours for their builders to complete, and represent some of the best of what was fabricated at the time.

Over the last several years, Rick D’Louhy (my co-author and partner in these car research adventures) and I have been tracking the early history of the cars we call Forgotten Fiberglass, and our research on sport customs grew out of that focus. The history of modern fiberglass cars started with the Glasspar G2, Irwin Lancer, Skorpion, and the Wasp. Each of these debuted at the November 1951 Petersen Motorama at the Pan Pacific Auditorium. As Rick and I began to learn more about this pivotal time in 1951 and 1952, we began focusing on what led up to the creation of these cars, and that’s when things got fuzzy.

We had trouble finding one source that told the story of American sports car development in the 1940s. Sure, there were individual stories about independent car companies and individual efforts, but nothing that strung together the story from the 1940s forward. As we researched the sport customs and the men who built them, we found that, not surprisingly, the story of individual effort and achievement turned out to be much like the same stories of design and entrepreneurship that percolated through our Forgotten Fiberglass stories. These were exciting stories to write, interesting cars to review, and fascinating people to meet.

One of my favorite interviews was with Gerry Huth, who started Hollywood Plastics with Bill Campbell (fiberglass cars and boats), but is best known for his company, Huth Mufflers, and the bending equipment he designed and built in the 1950s. Gerry built one of my favorite cars from the 1940s, the 1948 Huth Custom Cadillac, pictured above. I interviewed Gerry about this sport custom, and was curious about why he built it. “I built it to attract attention to our muffler business, which was much more like a speed shop than what you think of a muffler shop today,” he said. “People were fascinated by the new designs of cars right after World War II and crowds would gather at our shop to watch the progress. It was a lot of work, but worth the effort – just once, though. It took me over a year to build that car! I built cars before the Custom Cadillac, but that one was my last.”

I asked Gerry what shows he took his Custom Cadillac to. He burst out laughing and said, “Geoff, there weren’t any shows back then to take cars to. That didn’t start until later.” Indeed, the first car show of significance was the Hot Rod Exposition in 1948. The Huth Cadillac, by the way, has been missing since 1950, so if anybody knows where it is, we’d like to hear from you.

Fortunately, we are lucky that two people were documenting what was happening when it was happening: Dan Post and Ed Almquist. Post started publishing manuals on how to customize your car in 1944 and Almquist soon after, in 1946. Photographs, techniques, illustrations – all of these were being documented at a time before the first post-war automobile enthusiast magazine appeared (Speed Age in May 1947). Both Dan Post and Ed Almquist sold their booklets through magazines that were available prior to then, such as Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated. By the time Speed Age started publication, Post had been selling books on custom cars for nearly three years; Almquist about a year.

We believe the sport customs out there have long been denied their place in post-war automotive history, so we’re more than excited to see sport customs getting their day on the lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Special thanks goes to our good friends Rik Hoving and Tony Miller; both worked with us to help provide the best information possible about the history and heritage of sport custom cars in America. And, of course, great thanks goes to Ken Gross for making the Sport Custom class a reality for Pebble Beach this year. While we’ve been honored to help with information and support, it has taken Ken’s insight into these cars and their importance – as well as all the right persuasion and effort – to develop the first recognition of Sport Custom cars at a major concours event ever.

This year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance takes place August 19. For more information, visit PebbleBeachConcours.net. And for more information on sport custom cars, visit SportCustom.com.

Aesthetic taste is largely established by what’s commonplace. That’s one reason why so many mid-century European cars seemed odd in appearance to Americans, and American cars seemed bloated to Europeans. The sport customs were created by individuals who were not necessarily tied to anything established, but to their own personal visions. Some designs stood the test of time — some did not. But all helped to define the new “normal” for the big-time automakers in the years to come.

Congratulations to Geoff Hacker on getting into Pebble Beach.
Geoff has become a great friend of mine over the past few years. Had it not been for him and Rick D’Louhy I would not have found my 1952 Glasspar G2 that I am restoring now.
Thanks to Geoff for all the research and history of my car and my father (Warren Gerdes)
See you at Pebble Beach
Regards, Dennis Gerdes

Gotta say the Emil Diedt car looks the best of these examples, from the lines to the execution & details.
I remember Huth was The Place for exhaust work back in the day, but never knew about his achievements with the equipment or that car.

Yes, great stuff. But the visionary guy who was on top of this subject decades ago (and who ought to have a pile of history on it) is Mike Lamm. His name ought to be familiar to Hemmings. I was assisting Mike do research and collect photos on these cars back in the 1970s when he was attempting to write about them. And yessss, Mike very well had already categorized these cars as “Sports Customs.” I believe Mike also did a feature article on Sports Customs in one of the old Special-Interest Autos magazines and I believe you’ll find my name also listed at the end of that article as well.

And one car (actually two of them were made) that certainly deserves mention–if not outright praise–was the 1955 Cobra (nothing to do with Shelby or Ford, etc,). It was built by Wally and Harry Hansen and I believe debuted at the 1955 Petersen Motorama. A gorgeous car (they were not ALL “ugly”) that had a real “factory” look to it. One of these cars is in the Petersen Automotive Museum Collection today.

Of course it gets a little difficult as to where one draws the line on Sports Customs. Certainly not all were fiberglass and how do you separate out cars like the Darrins that were non-factory pieces (some were, some were not)? Or the Mormon Meteor? Or the Thunderbowl Comet? Or Herb Shriner’s cars? And so many others come to mind.

Another car that made the rounds of shows and magazines that comes to mind was a fiberglass 2-seater that actually predicted the look of a 1961 Thunderbird. A very factory-looking job (I can’t remember the name of the car or the fellow who built it). But I always wondered who was watching who when the new T-Bird body debuted in 1961 model year.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I had to do a web image search to get another look at it. The photo in Hemmings was interesting. After looking at the others of this custom car, its back end is too long for me. The front 3/4 view makes it look like a cross between a Delahaye and a 1948 Roadmaster. When I saw the other photos of this car, its not quite what I had in mind. However, that’s the beauty of custom cars and concept cars – you can like ‘em if you want or not – no harm no foul. I enjoy concept cars – my personal modern favorite is the Chrysler Atlantic with its straight 8 engine.

As a life long artist, the first lesson I learned, at about 8 or 9 years old, was that if you choose to expose your creations to the public, you should expect and live with, rejection, as well as acceptance. You must not take it personally, I always thought of my ability to roll with the punches as great training for my sales career. One gets, easily, 9 no’s for every yes.Naysayers????….water off a ducks back…….

I agree with Mr. Hacker that htese cars have been neglected. They represent the current thinking of the time, and just because they appear bizzare to us means nothing at all. They are part of the evolutiionary history of American design and some production, and noton deserve but should be welcomed in the Hobby.

Customs at Pebble Beach. Kudos to the organizers for expanding the public’s appreciation of the width and breath of COACHBUILT cars. I hope this class gets repeated in the future (so I can participate with my own coachbuilt custom when the restoration is completed).

We completed the restoration of the Timbs car a few years ago. The amount of work and thought that went into these cars when they were built is amazing the Timbs Special had independent rear suspension and the linkage and bell crank system to shift the transmission is a huge amount of engineering to get it all to work correctly. The drive train parts on the car are mostly 1947 48 Ford and Buick parts that he purchased new.
I think its great that these cars are invited out to Pebble Beach, sure in the looks department some of them might lag but the individuals that built these cars did not have the teams of engineers working on designs like the big companies do, and they wanted these cars to reflect their style and designs.

Let’s not jiust consider the finished product, but also the imagination, engineering, and yes, artistry that went into them. Many of these automobiles were the creations of men (I’ve never heard of any women involved, but I’m sure there might have been a few) who learned to shape, bend, and weld, sheet metal during WW2, the plastics came a bit later. To my eye, the flowing metal of the Timbs Special is just as lovely as that of the pre-war Talbot teardrop couoes.

I had the honor of working on the Timbs Special during it’s restoration at Custom Auto. It is amazing the effort and engineering that went into that car, especially considering the time period in which the car was originally built. I consider it a beautiful piece of rolling artwork. The pictures don’t do it justice. The car must be seen in person to be fully appreciated.

These aren’t all my taste, but I’m excited to see them at the Concours this year, I’m glad that they’ll be switching things up. Monterey definitely can drift into the “same cars, different year” rut pretty easily.

[...] Most of the cars that we’ll see in this class at Pebble took more than 2,000 hours to build back in the day. That’s 50 weeks of 40 hours a week work – and two weeks off for good behavior – one full working year. In modern terms, at 50 bucks an hour, you’ll arrive at $100,000 in labor before accounting for the first bolt. The Sport Custom cars that will be on display at Pebble Beach took quite a bit more than 2,000 hours for their builders to complete, and represent some of the best of what was fabricated at the time. The this link will take you to the rest of Geoff Hackers post on Hemming Daily. [...]

~ it is great seeing these little known and under appreciated beauties getting the coverage they deserve. i’ve been pleasantly surprised to find references to this class premiering at Pebble Beach on many of my favorite automotive sites. great work bringing attention to these cars, Geoff. looking forward to a spectacular debut.

As usual, the Hemmings readership continues to impress and amaze me. Great comments across the board – just like the cars. Some positive – some not so. That’s the neat thing about the Sport Custom class of cars….just like the cars built by the manufacturers themselves…there is something in this class of cars for everyone.

Today, hot off the press, is the “Press Release” posted about this class by the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance organization. I’ve posted this information on our website. Here’s a link for your review: